Kumara Parvatha - A trudge

Kumara Parvatha - "2nd highest peak in Karnataka" and "toughest trekking place in karnataka" this is what all i knew about this place... Kumara Parvatha!

starting point of 'Kumara Parvatha'

Kumara Parvata is at an altitude of 1350 meters, the route is around 15kms from Subramanya. There are two routes for reaching the peak (Pushpagiri), you can either start from Subramanya or from the other side, i.e., Somwarpet in Coorg.

Our plan was to climb up from the Kukke side i.e., Subramanya, reach Pushpagiri, sleep there in the night, and then get back down in the same way. Unlike our previous treking to Thadiyandamole "tallest peak in Coorg" and Edaku'meri "railway trek" we made a lot of preparation to this treking (Kumara Parvatha) starting from food, water, clothes and medical kit.

As we took up this trekking through NSS, we were 60 in number and we left mysore in 2 buses on 23rd evening and reached Madikeri around 10 pm. We finished our dinner, which was arranged by our classmate Achaiah and his parents in their home. Dinner was fantastic we had rice, sambar and butter milk. After finishing our dinner we started moving to Subramanya.

We reached Subramanya at about 3.00 AM and went to room which was already booked for us. We slept their for the rest of night. Morning we got up early, and got ready to trek the parvatha. Some of us visited the temple while others stayed away. We all finished our breakfast in hotel 'Kumaara Krupha'.

Day 1, we were around 60 and we started our treking around 8.30 am in the morning from the Kukke side. We started walked from subramanya temple towards the starting point of trekking from where our trek starts. As we kept walking we came across a signboard which said the peak is around18 Kms. Here we all took few snaps and few guidelines were given to us by NSS officer and finally we started our treking.

First part of treking was quite steep and it was through thick forest. There was some bit of exhaustion, but we could manage because of the shade. After 1.5 to 2 hours of trekking we reached a dry land "Baaatd Rashi" by this time the sun was very hot and we started getting exhausted. Finally, we reached "Giri Gadde" and Bhatta's house by afternoon.

These are few scenery which we saw as we move towards "Giri Gadde"

As we approached Giri Gadde we could see one small plantation kind of place where they grew Areca trees, as we went near it we could see one hut, this was famous Bhatta's house where we were going have our lunch. As we went nearer we could see bannana plants, pineapple plants (which i din't see before) and many more. It was a very good place, here we took rest for some time and some of us slept for some time. Later we finished our lunch by 1.00 pm and again started walking towards pushpagiri.

Giri Gadde - Bhatta's House

After a simple and nourishing lunch at the famous Bhatta’s house, we started walking. This part of the day was very hot and there was no shade. Some of us were completely exhausted because of scorching sun's heat, finally after 5 to 6 hours of walk we all reached a point where forest starts again.

Here we waited for our trekkers to reach us so that we can go together, but it was getting late so we had doubt about whether we can reach kumara parvatha? or not? From here we could see some people climbing the rock (other group). Soon every one reached this point and again we started waking. It was already 7 or 7.15 when we crossed the forest, but moon was reflecting the light to sufficient amount which made easy to climb the rock as we had enough amount of light. Rock was small but very steep so we were very careful while climbing the rock. After climbing this rock we started moving towards the peak.

Finally, by the end of day we reached the peak - Pushpagiri "2nd highest peak in Karnataka - 1350 meters" and "toughest trekking place in karnataka". Already it was 8 o'clock, we rested for 10 to 15 min, and some of us started collecting wood for camp fire and others to prepare for dinner. After some time we got sufficient wood for camp fire and for fire to cook food. By 9.30 pm we all had maggie for dinner it was really very good. After dinner some of us slept thinking to see the sun rise in morning and others were awake and kept on singing and sharing their experience whole night and waiting for the morning.

Next morning we all got up at very early and got ready with camera to capture the sun rise. But here we could see even more than what we were expecting to see. It was amazing, awesome.... i'm sure many will not have opportunity to see these scenery in their life time.

After watching all this amazing things at the peak we all started walking back to Subramanya here we refreshed ourselves and started journey back to mysore in our bus.

I wish i trek this Kumara Parvatha again.